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Ericsson Technology Review: Service exposure: a critical capability in a 5G world

To meet the requirements of use cases in areas such as the Internet of Things, AR/VR, Industry 4.0 and the automotive sector, operators need to be able to provide computing resources across the whole telco domain – all the way to the edge of the mobile network. Service exposure and APIs will play a key role in creating solutions that are both effective and cost efficient.

The latest Ericsson Technology Review article explores recent advances in the service exposure area that have resulted from the move toward 5G and the adoption of cloud-native principles, as well as the combination of Service-based Architecture, microservices and container technologies. It includes examples that illustrate how service exposure can be deployed in a multitude of locations, each with a different set of requirements that drive modularity and configurability needs.

2.
✱ SERVICE EXPOSURE IN 5G
2 ERICSSON TECHNOLOGY REVIEW ✱ MAY 7, 2019
Exposure – and service exposure in particular – will be critical to the creation
of the programmable networks that businesses need to communicate
efficiently with Internet of Things (IoT) devices, handle edge loads and pursue
the myriad of new commercial opportunities in the 5G world.
JAN FRIMAN,
MATTIAS EK,
PETER CHEN,
JITENDRA MANOCHA,
JOÃO SOARES
While service exposure has played a notable
role in previous generations of mobile
technology – by enabling roaming, for
example, and facilitating payment and
information services over the SMS channel –
its role in 5G will be much more prominent.
■ Thehighexpectationsonmobilenetworks
continuetorise,withnever-endingrequestsfor
higherbandwidth,lowerlatency,increased
predictabilityandcontrolofdevicestoservea
varietyofapplicationsandusecases.Atthesame
time,wecanseethatindustriessuchashealthcare
andmanufacturinghavestarteddemandingmore
customizedconnectivitytomeettheneedsoftheir
services.Whilesomeofthesedemandscanbemet
throughimprovednetworkconnectivitycapabilities,
thereareotherareaswherethoseimprovements
alonewillnotbesufficient.
Forexample,inrecentyears,contentdelivery
networks(CDNs)havebeenusedinsituationswhere
deploymentswithintheoperatornetworkbecamea
necessitytoaddressrequirementslikehigh
bandwidth.Morerecently,however,newuse-case
categoriesinareassuchasaugmentedreality(AR)/
virtualreality(VR),automotiveandIndustry4.0
havemadeitclearthatcomputingresourcesneedto
beaccessibleattheedgeofthenetwork.This
developmentrepresentsagreatopportunityfor
operators,enterprisesandapplicationdevelopersto
Service
exposure:A CRITICAL CAPABILITY
IN A 5G WORLD

3.
SERVICE EXPOSURE IN 5G ✱
MAY 7, 2019 ✱ ERICSSON TECHNOLOGY REVIEW 3
introduceandcapitalizeonnewservices.The
opportunityalsoextendstoweb-scaleproviders
(Amazon,Google,Microsoft,Alibabaandsoon)
thathaveinvestedinlarge-scaleanddistributed
cloudinfrastructuredeploymentsonaglobalscale,
therebybecomingthemass-marketproviderof
cloudservices.
Severalweb-scaleprovidershavealreadystarted
providingon-premisessolutions(acombinationof
full-stacksolutionsandsoftware-onlysolutions)to
meettherequirementsofcertainusecases.
However,theabilitytoexpandtheavailabilityof
web-scaleservicestowardtheedgeoftheoperator
infrastructurewouldmakeitpossibletotacklea
multitudeofotherusecasesaswell.Suchascenario
ismutuallybeneficialbecauseitallowstheweb-scale
providerstoextendthereachofservicesthatbenefit
frombeingattheedgeofthenetwork(suchasthe
IoTandCDNs),whileenablingtelecomoperatorsto
becomepartofthevaluechainofthecloud
computingmarket.
SUCHASCENARIO...[ENABLES]
TELECOMOPERATORSTOBECOME
PARTOFTHEVALUECHAINOFTHE
CLOUDCOMPUTINGMARKET
Defining exposure
Exposure in the IT/telecom sphere can be divided into a number of subareas.
Data exposure is the process by which any kind of consumer (human or machine) can access data in a
system via secure and controlled mechanisms. Data is normally exchanged in one direction only. Common
examples of data exposure include accessing data via an application programming interface (API),
downloading a file or retrieving observations from a server.
Service exposure goes beyond data exposure to also include the ordering of execution of operations in
the underlying system. Using an API to initiate operations and/or processes is a good example of service
exposure. Services can be invoked bidirectionally by triggering events, for example. Data can also be
updated via a service.
Service exposure can be applied in a domain, as in network exposure, which exposes both data and
services of the network. Enterprise resource planning (ERP) and customer relationship management
(CRM) are other examples of domains where service exposure can be applied.
To maintain security, the details of the underlying system are typically hidden in exposure scenarios.

11.
SERVICE EXPOSURE IN 5G ✱
MAY 7, 2019 ✱ ERICSSON TECHNOLOGY REVIEW 11
Jan Friman
◆ is an OSS/BSS expert
in the Architecture and
Technology team within
Business Area Digital
Services, where he is driving
the architecture of service
exposure. Since joining
Ericsson in 1997, he has
held various OSS/BSS-
related positions within the
company’s R&D, system
management and strategic
product management
organizations. He holds an
M.Sc. in computer science
from Linköping University,
Sweden.
Mattias Ek
◆ joined Ericsson in 1996
and currently serves as a
strategic product manager.
He has extensive experience
in service delivery platforms
and service enablement
domains, specializing in
consumer interaction,
mobile commerce and
consumer self-service. His
focus in recent years has
shifted toward exposure
and enablement solutions
for cellular IoT, massive
IoT and machine-type
communications. Today,
Ek leads the IoT Enabler and
Network Exposure team
in Solution Area Packet
Core with responsibility for
commercial and product
strategies.
Peter Chen
◆ is the technical product
manager leading the
technical solution and
evolution for the network
exposure area in Product
Development Unit UDM &
Policy. He has been working
in different areas within the
core network at Ericsson
since 2006 including IMS,
voice over Wi-Fi and Unified
Data Management (UDM),
and he has contributed more
than 10 patents in these
areas in recent years. He
holds a B.Sc. in materials
science and engineering
from Dalian University of
Technology, China.
Jitendra Manocha
◆ is strategic product
manager (5G Core) in
Solution Area Packet
Core within Business Area
Digital Services, where he
is responsible for the Cloud
Core Exposure Server, a
component of Ericsson’s
5G Cloud Core solution. He
joined Ericsson in 2004 and
has held various leading
positions in product lines,
R&D and services. He holds
an M.Sc. from KTH Royal
Institute of Technology in
Stockholm, Sweden.
João Soares
◆ is a solution manager for
distributed cloud, leading
Ericsson’s strategic solution
development for edge
computing. Before joining
the company in 2014, he
worked for Portugal Telecom
(now Altice Portugal),
during the introduction of
cloud technologies within
the operator’s network.
He holds both an M.Sc.
and a Ph.D. in electronics
and telecommunications
engineering from the
University of Aveiro,
Portugal.
theauthors